year of king John:—“The expenses of Alexander, son of the king of Scotland, which he incurred at Clerkenwell when he was made knight on Sunday in Mid-Lent, 4th March, 1212, amounted to £14 4s. 8d.”
“In 1237,” Matthew Paris records, “the Hospitallers sent their prior Theodoric, a German by birth and a most clever knight, with a body of other knights and stipendiary attendants and a large sum of money, to the assistance of the Holy Land. They, having made all arrangements, set out from their house at Clerkenwell, and proceeded in good order with about thirty shields uncovered, with spears raised, and preceded by their banner, through the midst of the city, towards the bridge, that they might obtain the blessings of the spectators, and bowing their cowls with their cowls lowered, commended themselves to the prayers of all.”
In 1265 Prince Edward and his wife, Eleanora of Castie, were entertained at the priory.
In 1399, only eighteen years after the destruction of the buildings by Wat Tyler and his mob, we find that Henry, duke of Lancaster, on the eve of his accession to the throne as Henry IV., was entertained at the priory for a fortnight. Of this fact there are two records, one,—”The Duke entered London by the chiefe gate and rode through the Cheape to St. Paules where he was after lodged in the bishops palace five or si days and after at St. Johns without Smithfield where he remained fifteen days right willingly.” The other record is metrical, and in French:—
“Quant le Duc Henry arrive
Fu à Londres nouvellement
A Saint Pol alla droitement
Et puis à Saint Jehan apres
Que est hors des murs assez près
C’est un hospital des templiers
La fu le Duc moult voulntiers
Quinze jours tons plains sans partir.”
It is evident from these entries that a portion of the grand pile had already been restored, enough, at all events, to admit of princely hospitality being exercised.
